I started at the mention of Kona’s father. “Why would she care about Malakai?”
“He worked with Cecily for years to imprison Tiamat,” Violet told me quietly. “It was Cecily’s magic, Cecily’s plan, but if Malakai hadn’t fed her as much of his power as he had … Well, a lot of people believe your mother would never have succeeded.”
“Now isn’t the time for that.” Hailana’s voice was sharp.
Violet regarded her calmly. “I disagree.”
Hailana said something else, but to be honest, I wasn’t listening. I was too busy reeling from Violet’s big reveal. Cecily hadn’t imprisoned Tiamat by herself. She’d had help. Selkie help. From Kona’s father of all people.
I didn’t know how I felt about that. One, because of the way everyone always treated me—like they truly believed I was going to single-handedly bring Tiamat to her knees. Part of that, I knew, came from the prophecy they believed was about me, but I’d always assumed the other part came from the fact that Cecily was my mother. One of the most powerful mermaids in existence, she had brought Tiamat down once. Was it such a stretch, then, that I could do it a second time? Even if I disagreed, even if I didn’t feel powerful, I could at least understand where people were coming from.
Finding out she didn’t do it alone … that just left me thinking that I didn’t have a chance. Like everyone really was expecting the impossible from me, expecting something that had never been done before.
Even worse, I couldn’t help wondering about Kona. I knew he was strong, knew he had a lot of power on his own. But was one of the reasons he was my boyfriend simply that he knew we had to combine our talents to have any chance of defeating Tiamat?
Kona loves me, I told myself fiercely. I was being ridiculous. Letting a bunch of stupid assumptions undermine my confidence in him. Kona had always been there for me, had never let me down. I owed him more than to suddenly start second-guessing him now.
At the same time, though, Hailana’s conviction kept running through my head, that there was no way Kona would ever marry a nonselkie, no way his father would ever allow him to put a half-breed mermaid on the selkie throne.
Was there a kernel of truth to it? Or was I just allowing my fears, my own doubts about myself, to latch on to the most reasonable explanation I could find? I didn’t know, and from the stricken look on Violet’s face, I wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding those anxieties.
So I did what I found myself doing more and more down here: I buried my worries deep inside myself and instead focused on presenting a brave face. On showing everyone in this world that I really was okay. And if most days I felt anything but, then that was no one’s business but mine.
“Tempest.” Violet’s voice was tentative. “Just because your mother had help doesn’t mean—”
“It’s fine, Violet.” I cut her off.
“Tempest, really—”
“I said, it’s fine. We’re not actually here to discuss my delicate emotional state, are we?” I injected as much sarcasm into the words as I could manage. Was it rude? Maybe. But I was struggling just to keep my head below water. I didn’t need anyone else to know that, though.
I glanced down the table at Hailana—I couldn’t help myself, though the last thing I wanted was for her to think I was seeking her approval. She gave it to me anyway, eyes gleaming and head nodding, as if I had passed yet another one of her incomprehensible tests.
“You’re right, Tempest. That’s not what we’re here to discuss tonight,” she said, her voice ringing with authority.
Although it might be interesting to explore those vulnerabilities. Sabyn again, this time on an intimate path into my thoughts that I’d never felt before. One I hadn’t given him access to.
One he’d been powerful enough to forge anyway.
Of all the disturbing things that had happened to me in the last forty-eight hours, that freaked me out the most.“Tiamat is playing with us,” Hailana continued, her voice weak but still ringing with authority. “She has no particular grudge with Stormy Point—”
“Except that they’re our allies,” interrupted Veracruz.
“Yes, except for that,” Hailana acknowledged. “She hit them because she wants us to be afraid. She wants us strung out, always looking over our shoulder waiting, so that we jump at the mere thought of her. It’s classic psychological warfare.”
“It’s working,” Violet told her. “I jumped at shadows all the way over here. And I know I’m not the only one.”
“Exactly,” Hailana said, leaning back as if her point had been proven.
And, in part, I suppose it had been. But there was more to this, I could sense it—a nebulous knowledge floating just out of reach.
“You really think that’s all this is?” Sabyn questioned sharply. “Intimidation tactics?”
“No,” I said, as things suddenly became clear. “This isn’t intimidation—it’s strategy. She knew Stormy Point would come to us when they were attacked—where else would they go?”
“Exactly,” Hailana said. “She’s using the attack to divert our attention, so she can strike when we least expect it.”
“Or when we’re tired.” I leaned forward, more convinced of my argument with every second that passed. “Think about it. The refugees from Stormy Point come here, and what do they do? They weaken us. Drain our food resources, take our medical supplies, splinter our attention between defense and caretaking.
“Doing both will work our soldiers into exhaustion very quickly,” I continued. “Even if we stagger shifts, try to rest them, there just won’t be enough time. Enough manpower. Enough resources. There won’t be enough of anything.”
I looked around, saw that for the first time the Council was listening to me. Really listening. Only Sabyn looked like what I was saying was amusing.
From the end of the table, Hailana smiled at me. Then used our private path of communication to say, It looks like you’ve got quite a bit of your mother in you after all, Tempest.
I knew she meant it as a compliment. I just didn’t know if I was going to take it that way.
“Hey, Tempest, wait up!” Sabyn called to me as I left the Council meeting.
I closed my eyes, resisted the urge to groan. Hadn’t I been through enough tonight? All I wanted to do now was to see Liam and then fall, face-first, into bed.
“What?” I asked, not even trying to sound polite as I turned to him.
“Whoa!” He held up his hands. “What’s got you so upset? I thought you’d be flying high after what happened in there.” He jerked his head toward the room we’d just left. “By the end, you had the whole Council behind you one hundred percent.”
“But not you.” The words came out before I even knew they were there.
He looked uncomfortable, like he hadn’t been expecting such honesty from me, either. “It’s not that. I just think we need to be ready for an imminent attack from Tiamat.”
“But we’re not ready. I think that’s the point all of us were making. We’re not strong enough to fend off a sustained attack from her forces.”